This is something of a rarity as what we have here is a long-lost (and lengthy) number which was originally recorded in 2012 at the end of the sessions for Cathedral’s final album, ‘The Last Spire’ (2013). It was never mixed at the time, and at nearly 30 minutes long was somehow forgotten until producer Jaime Gomez Arellano came across it when he was sorting through old studio recordings and after telling the band, it was agreed it should be fully released. I don’t have the line-up but am guessing it is the same as the album, so is Lee Dorrian (vocals), Garry Jennings (guitars), Brian Dixon (drums) and Scott Carlson (bass) again being joined by David Moore (Hammond organ, Moog synthesizer, Mellotron).
This contains loads of different elements, from doom through gothic along with some classic heavy duty Hammond Organ chords, plus an acoustic guitar breakdown at one point. However, there is also no doubt that while there are sections which are classic Cathedral and all that implies, there are other times when the band are marking time and one wonders what would have happened if this had been chopped into different songs, with huge pieces cut out. However, the band actually announced at the beginning of 2011 that they would complete one more album and then break up, so there was probably no real desire to have any outside influences telling them what to do. It is a very interesting listen, and undoubtedly is essential to fans of the band, but I will probably keep returning to ‘The Garden Of Unearthly Delights’ which was released as a special 20th Anniversary vinyl edition on the same day as this.
Rating: 7/10
Links:
https://www.facebook.com/cathedral
https://riseaboverecords.com/